Process of preparing vegetable fibers.



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.ononen n. nunron, on BOSTON, mnssaonusnrrs, ASSIGNQB. To THE nun'ron COMPANY, on nosron, mssaon'osn'rrsgn conronamon or mnssnonusnrrs.

rnocnss on-rnnrnmno VEGETABLE misnns.

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- Specification of Letters Patent. Application filed March 27, 1913. Serial no. 757,078.

Patented Nov. 3, 1914.

. To all whom-it may concern Be it'known that I, GnoeonvD. BuBToN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Boston, in the county of Suffolk and State of Massachusetts, have invented an Improve ment in Processes of :Preparing Vegetable Fibers, of .which the following 1s aspeclfication.

In the treatment of fibrous material, such as fiax,.r amie, sisal,.hemp,jute and-other kinds of straws and grasses, to adapt them for usein1the.,'arts,=they have been degummed, 'or I more strictly speakin ,par-

tially' idegummed. The gununy su stance which is removed-is the natural binder which holds together the tiny fibers and when eliminated the fibers become separated so that the degummed fibrous material lacks some: of its; natural adhesivepr'operties.

This; invention relates to the treatment of fibrous material suchras abovereferred to,

after they have been degummed, by subjecting them to a vtreatmentinvolving the employment of an oil, a grease, or 111 fact any oily substance, either animal, vegetable or mineral, whichris added to the degummed fibrous materials to take the place of'the. gummy substance which has been removed by the idegumming process, thereby-restoring .said'mate-rials more nearly to their natural state, and givin to them the feel and strength and many ot the general characteristics of wool, etc. As the-degummed ma terial which is to be treated is of a vegetable origin a vegetable oil; preferably employe One way of carrying out my invention,-

which is ver simple and economical and I productive 0 good results, is here giyen as anexample, but the invention is not limited to this'way or to the order of the several steps, as it may be modified and still come within the spirit and scope of my invention.

The oily substance having beenselected, and which may be olive-oil, for instance, is partially saponified by a weaksaponifyin agent, preferably onethat is volatile, suc

-as ammonia, the saponification being carried only so far or. continued only so long as to cut the oil and break it up into minute globules, or particles, but not entirely destroy the globules or particles, and such partially saponified oil is mixed with-water and forms an emulsion, the -water serving as a carrier-for the oily particles, in which said particles are suspended. If saponification .wascarried further-the pfodiict fivould be .a soap, andthe globules or particlesof oil too much broken up would be destroyed, and, would not produce: the results sought. The

emulsion thus produced may consist of say one pound of olive-oil, one-half pound of 26% ammonia, and ten gallons of soft water. 1

Thedegummed fibrous material is then submerged in this emulsion, in the presence of the m1nute part1cles therein contained,

whereupon it absorbs them, atleast to a certam extent. More water may be added to the solution 1f necessary. If the emulsion is contained in an agitatori and the fibrous material submerged therein, the process will be expedited, as the emulsion will more- .quicklytreach all parts of the fibrous material. .In fact, in the-practice of; my proc ess a revoluble agitator is preferred, similar .to that shown and described in Letters .Pat-

ent issued ,to 'me #976,779, dated- November 22, 191 0, but any other form of agitator may be employed, so that a detailed description of the same iS unnecessary. The emulsion may be maintained at about room temperature, assuch temperature is conducive to the ready --evaporation of. the ammonia. v The fibrous material need be submerged only for a short period of time, as it rapidly absorbs the emulsion, the oily particles being carried freely into-and incorporated with the fibers, When the ammonia evaporates the partially saponified oil alone is left to be absorbed by the fibers. As a result the fibers are given an increased stren th, longer durability and are capable o a much finer, smoother and evener finish when subsequently spun into a yarn or other article of manufacture. The substitution of an oil or yarns and other articles of manufacture v which may be made of the fibers.- The fibrous material thus treated also passes through the various machines by which it is made-into articles of manufacture, to much better advantage than the ordinary dedesired tobleach. or whiten the fibrous material, then said emulsion may haveadded to itfan acid, preferably one having a vege table base, such as oxalic acid, (Norwegian), thereby 4 giving 1 to the emulsion qualities by which this result may be attained.- In

the example heretofore described, one-half pound, more or less, of oxalic acid (Norwe gian),'may.-be added to the emulsion after partial saponifi'cation has taken place and the oily particles are'thus'held in .suspen-- sion; The-acid treated emulsion thus described performs the functions of softening, strengthening, oiling and also bleaching or whitening the fibrous material, and the fibrous material treated b teriorate with. age, and t e manufactured products willatt'ain a good gloss and finish,

yet all of these results may be accomplished;

by thetreatnient duringa single operation.

When fibrous material such as flaxis not weakened and to break, hence the use of the;

ordinary degummed flax for binder twine is practically prohibitive. Another reason detrimental to its use 15 that the gum dulls the cutting devices on the binding-machine,

and also is deposited on them, impairing -thcir efficiency. So also its use for many other'purposes is very limited, but by .my treatment it is restored to a condition approximating its. natural state, as regards ts strength and qualit In case of liax=stra.w, grown for flax-see from which linseed-oil 15 made, the linseed-oil is naturally of an oily character and after the fiax straw has been de'gummed then linseed-oil in'its natural state may be added to advantage to restore the degummed flax-straw to a condition which makes it very useful in the arts, .'In.

such cases the linseed-oilmaybe added to the fibrous product by a frictional method instead of by. artial saponification, as for instance, the 0 may be heated to a proper temperature, say about 70 F. which lique-J fies it to such an extentas to admit of its flowing readily, and in this condition it may be added in the form of. spray to thelihrous material while the latter is being agitated in irevolhblefor other-form of agitator. So 'also'other oily substancesmay" be added to the fibrous'material in this way,

' it being divided into minute particles by a mechanical action in the formfl'of s, s -ray instead of by a partial sapomfication i desired.

it does not de-" rocess, and the it relatesto' oiling and bleaching the fibrous material forms the subject matter of a ivisional-application #830,093, filed Ap l 6, 1914.'@:-

1. The process of treating de 'ummed fibrous material which consists in dividin "an oily substance into minute particles and subjecting the fibrous material to the contact of said particles,thereby to absorb them.

2. The process of treating ,degu'mmed fibrous material which consists in dividing an oily substance into minute particles in a liquid carrier, and subjecting the fibrous material to the contactof said particles, thereby to absorb them.

' 3.,The process of treating degummed fibrous material which consists in forming an emulsion of an oily substance with water and submerging the fibrous material in said emulsion 'in' contact .with the oil-particles therein, thereby to absorb said particles. 4:. The', process of treating degummed fibrous material which consists in .partiall saponifying an oily substancewith a wee. saponifyingngent and subjecting the fibrous material to the action of the-same".

5. The process. of treating degummed fibrous material which consists in partiall saponifying an oily substance with awee volatile saponifyi'ng agent and subjecting the fibrous material to the action of the same.

6. The process of treating .de gufnmed fibrous material which consistsin partially sapom 'lng-an oily substance with a wee vo atile saponifyin agent and subjecting the fibrous, material .to the action or the same and evaporating the saponifying agent.

-7. The process of treating degummed 8. The process of treating degummed' fibrousmateri'al which consists in agitatin the'the fibrous material in the presence 0 minute particles of an oily substance. "-9. The, process of treating -de fibrous material which consists in' ividi'n 'anoily substance-into'minute particles an agitating thefibrous material -in thepresence of said articles. 3 10, -'1 e process oftreating" d fibrous material which consists in an oilysubstance'intominute particles in a liquid, carrier and -submerging the fibrous materialin said carrier. in the presence of summed ividing' ,thaparticles' suspendedtherein and agitat- 'ing the same.

terial'whi consists-in partial y saponify- -ing. an oily substance -yith a weak saponify 11. The as of-de gunimin first,

ing agentwhereby minute particles are particles and ev porating the suponifying 10 formed and agitating the fibrous material agent in the presenee of said oily particles. In testimony whereof, I have signed my 12. The process of treating cleguinrr d name to this specification, in the presence of a fibrous material which consists in partially two subscribing witnesses.

saywhiiying an oily substance with a Weak GEO. D. BURTON. volatile sa ionifying agent whereby minute Witnesses: e eily particles are formed, then agitating the AGNES R. REYNOLDS,

fibrous material in the presence of said oily E. F. PmursoN. 

